DAVID BOWIE performed with a huge number of iconic stars, including Queen's frontman Freddie Mercury - but what was it like for them to make Under Pressure

David Bowie and Freddie Mercury were real showmen with incredible performance skills, right up until their deaths. Fans will remember the buzz around when the pair collaborated for the single Under Pressure, which was a huge hit. However, with all great art can come conflict, which was certainly the case for Bowie and Mercury, as well as bass player John Deacon.

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Were David Bowie and Freddie Mercury friends?

Before the pair even worked together Bowie and Mercury knew one another from around.

According to Rolling Stone, while Mercury was studying at Ealing Art College in the late 1960s, he discovered Bowie would be performing at a lunchtime show at his college, though at that point neither of the pair were well-known.

The Queen frontman was impressed and even offered to help set up the stage and carry equipment for Bowie, who at the time was almost a folk musician with only flops to his name.

Were David Bowie and Freddie Mercury friends? (Image: Getty)

Mercury was keen to become a musician and finishing college but to pay the bills had to sell second-hand clothes at Kensington Market and started his own stall with future Queen drummer Roger Taylor.

After Space Oddity had become a hit for the singer, Bowie headed to Kensington Market, having made very little money at this point, looking for boots from Alan Mair’s stall, at which Mercury was now working after his stall failed.

Speaking to Rolling Stone, Mair said: “So there was Freddie Mercury, a shop assistant, giving pop star David Bowie a pair of boots he couldn’t afford to buy.”

While this was their first meeting, it was not until the Under Pressure sessions in 1981 when the pair started working together properly.

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Clearly Bowie was quite the perfectionist with his music, but in the end, it turned out pretty well as the music was a major hit.

Bowie and Mercury had an interesting friendship having known each other since the early 1970s until Mercury’s death in 1991.

Before his death, Mercury confirmed the pair were still friends despite some musical disagreements, telling a talk show: “Oh, we’re speaking to each other, we’re just in different parts of the world.

“He’s alright, he’s okay. We’ve been friends a long time back.”

Queen (Image: Getty)

In his autobiography, Me, Sir Elton John even revealed how Mercury was still teasing his friend and rival Bowie on his death bed.

He said: "He was too frail to get out of bed, he was losing his sight, his body was covered in Karposi’s sarcoma lesions, and yet he was still definitely Freddie, gossiping away, completely outrageous.

"(Freddie would say) ‘Have you heard Mrs Bowie’s new record, dear? What does she think she’s doing?'"

The superstar added: "I couldn’t work out whether he didn’t realise how close to death he was or if he knew perfectly well but was determined not to let what was happening to him stop him being himself.